Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the 4-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact – and now she hugs everyone.

And Eden’s progress is attributed to Kaspar, a robot designed by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire as part of the AuRoRa Project, whose goal is to study “if and how robots can become a ‘toy’ that might serve an educational or therapeutic role for children with autism.” Looks like they’re making progress!